1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle heater apparatus which heats a component adapted to be contacted by a portion of a body of a rider in a vehicle.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, it has been known to provide a vehicle with a heating apparatus such as discussed above, e.g., a seat heating apparatus in which a heating wire is provided inside a seating surface of a seat. See Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-106146.
In the above-mentioned known heater apparatus, the temperature of a heated portion (seating surface of a seat) is controlled by a thermostat provided for each heating element. The thermostat plays a role in constantly maintaining the temperature of the heated portion by alternately turning the power supply to the heating element on and off depending on the temperature of the heated portion, where the temperature is monitored by one or more temperature sensors such as a bimetal or a thermistor.
However, in the heater apparatus of this reference, when a failure or anomaly occurs in the temperature sensor(s) itself, the anomaly cannot be directly detected. Accordingly, an improvement on this point is desired.